A Liberal License

My taxes helped to finance the highway
expansion, along with rules of the road,
a while before I even would defray
expenses for a car. Indeed, I owed
my country service for some years before
I could enjoy the benefit of rules
an autocratic congress made the core
requirements of all our driving schools.
It took me time to pass the written test,
and cost me to obey the traffic signs.
But, after all, I thought it for the best
that everybody bent on driving, minds
what’s best for all, so all can benefit
alike with neither gain nor deficit.

And so I made a practice to commit
myself to driving with civility.
At least I’d make the effort to acquit
myself of legal liability.
I never cut into another lane,
nor traveled 20 in a 10-mile zone;
although I lost before I stood to gain
on those ahead of me. Thus, I’d bemoan
my deference to driving etiquette.
For sitting with complacence at the wheel,
I lost my edge, assured I needn’t vet
society whose stringent rules would steal
whatever thunder faster cars might boast.
And so I opted patiently to coast

assured the other cars would do the same.
Of course, those drivers drove with lawless glee,
who had a less accommodating aim
regarding mandates of the DMV
than I had. Even slowpokes picked up speed
so that the vehicles who lagged behind
my car, caught up, attempting to impede
its movement. Never mind police who fined
me once for making an erratic turn,
but turn a blind eye to the very real
infringement of those rules I had to learn
at great expense! While hearing tires squeal,
my car was forced into a dead-end street
where scofflaws took off in the driver’s seat.